Thousands of Serbs pay their respects to Djindjic
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Your support makes all the difference.Hundreds of thousands of mourners joined the funeral cortège in Belgrade yesterday of Serbia's Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, assassinated by a sniper believed to be acting on the orders of gangsters.
Silence engulfed the usually busy city of two million people as the mile-long column followed Mr Djindjic's funeral procession from the Temple of Saint Sava to Novo Groblje (New Cemetery), where he was buried with full military and state honours. Unprecedented security measures were in place, and most of Belgrade was closed to all traffic. The funeral route was under heavy police guard, with sharpshooters on the roofs of many buildings.
It was the biggest crowd Serbia had seen since a mass uprising led by Mr Djindjic and other reformers toppled Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000, and the biggest funeral in Belgrade since the death of the Communist leader Josip Broz Tito in 1980.
George Papandreou, the Greek foreign minister, pledged to finish Mr Djindjic's dream of bringing Serbia into the family of European nations. "You will be part of Europe, our Europe, and our beautiful region will become a region of peace. I make this pledge to you, Zoran," said Mr Papandreou, before ending in Serbian: "Zbogom prijatelju [Goodbye friend]."
The ceremony started with a traditional Orthodox funeral mass, attended by dozens of senior international officials including the German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, European Commission president Romano Prodi, Robin Cook and Paddy Ashdown.
In a rare show of sympathy, Mr Djindjic's political rivals Vojislav Kostunica, until recently the president of Yugoslavia, and Vuk Draskovic, the opposition leader, attended the ceremony.
Mr Djindjic's widow Ruzica and their two children, Luka, 10, and Jovana, 13, religious leaders and other dignitaries filed by his coffin, which lay draped in the red, blue and white Serbian flag. Serbian Orthodox bishop Amfilohije said Mr Djindjic had begun a renewal of Serbia and "reached out a hand of reconciliation and peace". "But he was killed by a brother's blind hatred," he told the congregation.
"There can be no prosperity in a country where prime ministers are slain," said Dusica Susic, 27, a mother of two. Her comment reflected fears here that the assassination could lead to renewed tensions and political instability.
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